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Spider-Man Finale Leaves Actor Hanging, Comics Crack Wise
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 20, 2011
Modified Jan 20, 2011
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Courtesy Jason Saenz's Twitter
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 20, 2011
Modified Jan 20, 2011
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Yesterday the battle-scarred Broadway mega-musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark debuted an elaborate new finale in which the titular character triumphantly flies out over the audience in an extended aerial maneuver. Shockingly, the stunt failed last night, and the actor in the Spidey suit was left dangling over the audience for a full minute. Then the lights came up and the show ended. (To the egress, suckers!) Fortunately, a group of Upright Citizen Brigade comedians were in the audience to skewer the whole debacle on Twitter. Here are their funniest japes:
- "If that's what comic books are like, then I'm glad I don't read them."— @LaurenConAd
- "But if you were worried there wouldn't be a super villain fashion show and runway in Act 2, you can relax!" — @mikescollins
- "I recommend Spiderman the Musical to anyone who wants to say 'Why is there a woman with spider legs hanging above me?'" — @AdamSacks
- "I'll give them something to complain about!" is no "wait until they get a load of me." — @jasonsaenz
- "'Let's make everyone late waiting in a long ticket line and then start the show without them' -the foxwoods theatre box office" — @LaurenConAd
- We held with Peter Parker suspended above the crowd and they did NOT finish the show. Garbage — @LaurenConAd
Lauren Adams tells us that the line to pick up tickets outside the Foxwoods Theatre was indeed a half hour long, and that the performance started with many people still stuck on that infernal line. All in all, she calls the spectacle "a wonderful mess! The coolest part was the flying, and it's severely under used. Not to mention many events are often talked about whilst they happen off stage, presumably in some cool musical about Spider-Man where you actually saw stuff instead of just hearing about it." She continues:
U2 songs are actually IN the show. Not sung by actors in the fabric of the musical, but in a club scene they are dancing to that U2 song Vertigo. Thanks Bono. I can honestly say I have no idea what went on once the second act started. It was part Greek Myth, part U2 concert and one very small part was an actual musical about Spider-Man. I'm no comic book buff, but the story of Spider-Man never seemed that complicated to me prior to seeing this show.
There is a song about Lady Spiders and high heeled shoes. It's a terrible Toxic knock off. I couldn't tell if it was intentionally ripping off Toxic or if it was written in earnest, either way I'm not interested over 2 hours into the show. DO MORE OF THE COOL (and dangerous) FLYING ALREADY!!!
And speaking of Bono, the rock star reached out to Glenn Beck after the unhinged demagogue instructed followers to sell their kidneys to buy a ticket. Beck says the producers and Bono invited him back to see the show, and the two titans met backstage. According to Beck, "[Bono] said, some of us don’t need to have good reviews, he said, but there are people that have given up so much of their life and are the beginning and, you know, a good review means everything to them because they’re at the beginning of their career. And he said, I can’t tell you how much that meant."
Beck is SUCH a hero! Maybe they should attach some wires to him and give him a cameo in the show! What's the worst that could happen—he falls 30 feet and breaks a few ribs?
Tagged
broadway
spider man musical
spider man turn off the dark
ucb
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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